Acts chapter 6, let's read from the opening verse of the chapter. And in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples onto them and said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the same pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch, whom they set before the apostles. And when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. And the great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. Amen. We'll finish there at verse seven. May the Lord bless his word to our hearts. Verse seven there records that the word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. Makes you think of the great success of the church at that time. And that's what I want to look at for a little time tonight before we get to prayer. I had no intention of drawing your attention to this passage of scripture tonight at all. But in the course of my study last evening on another text of scripture, I was providentially led to these words in Acts chapter six. And the more I read them, the more they gripped my soul. The words, both in verse one and verse seven, speak of the multiplying of the disciples. Verse one opens with that thought, and in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied, and then in verse seven, and the word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem, speak of incredible spiritual prosperity of the early New Testament church. From very small beginnings, and in Acts chapter 1, 120 people met for prayer in the upper room in Jerusalem. But from those very small beginnings, the church in the New Testament, in these opening chapters of the book of Acts, enjoyed exceptional blessing. Thousands were converted at Pentecost. Thousands were added a little later to the church as well. And it seemed wherever the apostles preached, their message was received. And many who heard that message turned from their sin and trusted in the living God. What makes that increase, that spiritual prosperity, all the more incredible was the fact that the progress of the church was contrary to all human reason. You think of it very carefully. The leading men in the church at that time were just ordinary men. In Acts chapter four, they are described as unlearned and ignorant men. That phrase simply means that they were not the religious elite of the day. They were not professionally trained ministers or professionally trained religious leaders. The majority of them were fishermen. Fishermen who had forsaken their nets to follow Christ. The disciples involved here were not natural orators. They were not men accustomed to dealing with people. Fishermen are out on the sea. They're out there in the nighttime. They go to mend their nets. There's not a lot of interaction with people. And yet God used these men in the advance of his work. Against all human reason, you would never have chosen those men if you were looking to start an organization or start some kind of campaign. You'd never have chosen those particular men. But the Lord used them mightily in his work. The church also prospered at a time of great persecution. Christianity was not popular at this time. You just need to read Acts chapter 3 and Acts chapter 4, and you'll discover the animosity that existed towards the message of Christ. Peter and John had already been arrested. They had been commanded not to speak in the name of the Savior. Some of their fellow believers had been beaten in Acts chapter 4. And it's true that not every person was very happy to hear of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The church was facing times of persecution, but still even in that time of persecution, God was pleased to bless. It's also noteworthy to just make the comment here that the church prospered even though there were great disappointments. Acts chapter five, for example, records the tragic case of Ananias and Sapphira, the couple who lied to the Holy Ghost regarding the sale of their land and were eventually taken in sudden death. Without going into all the details of that event, it stands to reason that that must have caused great concern, and great disappointment, and great discouragement in the church. Acts chapter five, verse five records that great fear came on all them that heard these things. And Acts five, verse 11 records, and great fear came upon all the church. And upon as many as heard these things, there was great fear. When news began to spread about what happened on Ananias and Sapphira, there was great fear. And you can imagine the disappointment, the uncertainty of what is taking place here when Ananias and Sapphira are taken in death. You begin to pull all those thoughts together, it becomes clear that from a human perspective, the Church of Christ should not have been prospering at all. If you were to have examined the situation in a human way of looking at things, you'd have thought, this cannot go forward, this cannot prosper. But the church did, and the church prospered in a mighty way, and that underscores something very, very vital for us. The work of God can know great blessing. It can know great progress. It can know great success, even in the midst of the hardest of circumstances. Sometimes I lament, and I'm speaking personally here, I lament the hardness of these days. I lament the deadness, I lament the barrenness, the discouragements. I guess I'm not the only one who does that, but there are times I've got to remind myself that I should not allow those things to fill my mind as they do because God is able to work even in the midst of those circumstances. He does it here in Acts chapter 6. Now how can that be explained? How can you explain the prosperity of the Church of Jesus Christ with just a handful of men going to preach the gospel, yet the number of disciples are multiplying? How can you account for that? I know that no small part of the answer to that question lies with the person and the power of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of God had been poured out upon the church at Pentecost, and the sudden increase in the church The sudden power of the apostles in their preaching, the fear among the people, the results of that preaching of the Word of God cannot adequately be explained without due reference to the mighty work of God, the power of the Holy Ghost. But God uses instruments. The Spirit of God fills men. God uses servants, and while it's impossible to ignore the work of the Spirit of God, it's also impossible to ignore the work of the servants of God. There's no doubt that God was blessing his church. No doubt that God was blessing his servants here. And I have no doubt that we want to know some of that blessing tonight. I've thought a lot recently about the general promises in God's Word regarding his blessing and his work. We know texts like, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. We're all familiar with the words of Psalm 127, verse one, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Or the words of Isaiah, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void. And we think those are, and they are, they are glorious promises. but they are general promises. What I've sought from God is a word or a promise, and I think it's true, we all need to do this, get a word or a promise from God for this church, that we can plead before God in prayer, that we can get a hold off in prayer as we come week by week and not let go until we see that promise, that text that God has given to us or that truth that God has given to us until we see that promise fulfilled amongst us. For sure it is our burden to see this work go on and on in the days to come. And it was in that kind of context, that kind of thought process last night in my mind that caused this passage in Acts chapter 6 to grip me. And I started to ask the question, what was it about the New Testament church here? How can you account for the success of the church in Acts chapter 6? And I know we need the power of the Holy Ghost, and that's going to be paramount here. But there are other things we need to notice. And that's what I want to do tonight before we get to prayer. I want you to see, first of all, that the church that prospers is one that realizes the primacy of the preaching of God's word. primacy of the preaching of God's Word. It has to be significant that there are no less than three references to the Word in this chapter that we've read, at least a section of the chapter we've read tonight. Look at verse 2. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Verse four, we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Then verse seven and the word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. Three times the Holy Spirit records for us here the word, the ministry of the word, the word of God. And it's obvious from the language of the chapter here, when it speaks about the ministry of the word in verse four, that it has to do with the preaching of the word. And that was one thing that the apostles did not want to give up. It's one thing that they placed a tremendous emphasis upon. You look at verse two there, the issue arises with the widows who are murmuring because of what's taking place in the daily ministrations. And that comes to the 12, and the 12 say in verse two, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. I think there are two very important words there, the word reason and the word leave. The word reason means agreeable or fit. The word leave simply means to leave down or abandon. So when these men hear this difficulty that's in the church, they say it's not agreeable to us that we should leave the word and concentrate on something else. It's not fitting for us that we should come and take that kind of approach. Rather, it's very important that we continue to do what we're doing. They did not want to leave the preaching of the word because they understood that that was the important thing. Why was it important in the early church? Because this is what Christ had commissioned them to do. They were to go into all the world and preach the gospel. teaching all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. This was Christ's commission. They had Christ's authority, therefore, to give attention to the preaching of God's Word. I think it's also true that they wanted to maintain this because they had already experienced the power of the preached Word at Pentecost. When Peter stands up there full of the Holy Ghost in Acts chapter 2, he begins to preach, and the power of God is there. And before we come to the end of that chapter, in Acts chapter 2, 3,000 souls have been added to the church. It wasn't because Peter had some great skill as a preacher. It wasn't because he had some superior ability as an orator. That's what persuaded the men to turn from their sin to God. It was the power of the Spirit taking the preached word, applying it to the hearts, and souls are saved. And these men did not want to give that up. I think when they're emphasizing here the ministry of the word, and in verse 2 he talks about the word of God. It's not reason that we should leave the word of God. It underscores that's where their authority lay. Wasn't it they were coming with their own message? They were coming with a message to the people that was the word of God. They could have cried out, is there any word from the Lord? And the answer was, yes, there's a word from God, and we want to preach that word. And as those men give themselves to the ministry of the word, as they concentrate on the preaching of the word, in the power of the Holy Ghost, the church prospers. There's nothing else here. There are no gimmicks. There's no entertainment. There's nothing pulled in from the world to try and attract a crowd. It's simply the preaching of the word. And these men did not want to give that up. They understood the primacy of the preaching of God's word. As I thought of that, I read comments by C.H. Spurgeon. Spurgeon had this to say on this text. I think from the context of the message that he's preaching, it seems that his brother has been elected by the Metropolitan Tabernacle to come alongside Spurgeon and help him in the ministry. And this sermon that I'm going to quote from was preached on the Sunday after the election of his brother. He talks about the unity of the church. He talks about various aspects of that ministry, but he makes this comment. It is a long time since I preached a sermon that I was satisfied with. I scarcely recollect ever doing so. You do not know, for you cannot hear my groaning when I go home Sunday after Sunday, and wish that I could learn to preach somehow or other better. Wish that I could discover the way to touch your hearts and your consciences. For I seem to myself just to be just like the fire, but at once stirring. The coals have got black, and I want them to flame forth. Spurgeon. 5,000 people. Sunday morning, Sunday night. He knows the power of God. He knows the blessing of God, but he says, I wish that I could discover the way to touch your hearts. He understood the primacy of the preaching of God's word. And we need to ever remember that. We need to ever remember that. As a minister, I need to remember that. I can identify with Spurgeon. I just never thought it was true of Spurgeon, from what I read of him, but I can identify with him. We need to know the power of God in the preaching of the word. And I pray, and I'll come to this in a moment or two, but I pray that in days to come we know more and more of this. that I know more and more of this. As we continue with the work here that God comes and baptizes us with power, we understand that what we have here is the word of the living God, and God has told us to preach the word. The church that prospers is a church that understands the primacy of the preaching of God's word. The second thing I discover here is the church that prospers is the one that understands the vital importance of the place of prayer. the vital importance of the place of prayer. The apostles were not careless in prayer. You don't need me tonight to look back at Acts chapter one, verse 13 and 14, or Acts chapter two and verse one, or Acts chapter two and verse 42, or Acts chapter three and verse one. You know what those texts are speaking of. The early church were in one accord in the place of prayer. Peter and John are going to prayer in Acts chapter three and verse one when they meet the man who's impotent. Acts chapter 6 verse 4 makes reference to prayer again. The apostles are saying, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The word continually there suggests to me that they had already been much in prayer, but they want to continue there. This was part of their Christian life. This was part of their ministry. This was part of their work for God. This was part of their service for Jesus Christ. But now they want to confirm to the church that they want to give themselves continually to prayer. And I think it goes broader than just the apostles here. They're emphasizing the importance of prayer for the church. The whole phrase in verse four, we will give ourselves continually to prayer, speaks of earnestness, passion, persistence in prayer. You see, for the church there in Acts, prayer was not an afterthought. And it was more than just a duty. It was a delight. And it was a discipline. Something they gave themselves to. bringing the needs of the work of God before God at his throne, that he might, in his power and in his mercy and in his grace, answer those prayers and give a blessing to the church. That he would, in very simple ways, fulfill his promise to the church, because he had promised them that if they would go forth, that they would teach and then baptize, and the inference is that the word would be beneficial, profitable, would prosper, there would be success. And so the church and these early disciples are giving themselves to prayer because they understand the vital importance of the place of prayer in the church. I believe our prayer teaches us, it emphasizes to us, it reveals to us our sense of dependence upon God. Why are we here tonight? Why do we meet on a Sunday morning or a Sunday evening before the service? Why do we take time to pray at all? Because we know without God, we can do nothing. And therefore, it reveals our sense of dependence. And the more we pray, it reveals more and more our sense of dependence. And the less we pray indicates our less sense of dependence upon God. It highlights our own humility, our own worthlessness too. We come to pray. We come surely with a heart. Lord, we can't do this work. We need you to move. That's a humbling thing. That's where the church in Acts was. They had no confidence in themselves. Their sufficiency and their confidence was in God and in God answering their prayers. It's a work that demands tremendous effort. Prayer is not easy. But it's absolutely essential. It's one thing to come and meet like this. It's another thing to come and meet like this and meet with God. And do business with God in prayer. But I tell you, that's what we need. That's what I need. That's what we all need. It's a work that we need to cultivate. It's a work we need to develop. As I continue with the studies on Sunday night on the distinctness of the free church, I'm going to deal with prayer. Free church was born out of prayer meetings that were on fire for God. And I wasn't there. for my time, but would to God we would know those days again. We will not go forward until we recapture the power of God in prayer. The church in Acts chapter six understood the importance of prayer. A church that does not pray and will not pray in faith will not go forward. Paul was not behind the door and asking the church to pray for him. And I urge you to pray for me. Let's pray that others will come. Let's pray that others will come, other families will come to join us. We can't deny the fact that over the last number of years, it's been easier to get folk to leave than to come. We've got to pray the Lord reverses that. It's not just true here, it's true right across our free church, whether I'm here in North America or Northern Ireland. Is God able to reverse that? Yes, he is. But we need to pray. We need to pray. The third thing that's here is that the church that prospers will have those who will give themselves to determined Christian service. Determined Christian service. Look at verse three and four. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Do you know the background there, the difficulty in verse one? The apostles say, okay, point out seven men, and they will give themselves to this business. We will appoint them to this business. They will serve there. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word of God. So while one would look after one part of the work, the apostles would look after the other part of the work. But the point that I really want you to see there is that both would give themselves to the work. Different aspects of it, but both would give themselves to the work. And all of the apostles felt the same. We will give ourselves continually to prayer, to the ministry of the word. The overall picture here is a picture of service. The word give in verse four. we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word means to be earnest towards something, a giving over, a giving up. It's true of ministers, we are to give ourselves to the ministry. We are to be addicted to the ministry. But it's true of every Christian. It's true of every Christian. Every child of God here needs to give himself or herself as much as possible to the work of God. I know we have other responsibilities, and I understand that, and I don't mean by that that we neglect those other responsibilities at all. But let's serve God with our whole heart. I'm reading through the story of James Fraser, who labored in China in the early 1900s. A man who spent days and weeks just in little villages, traveling by horseback up steep mountains and into deep valleys, sometimes soaked through to the skin, sometimes just lying outside at night. sometimes very discouraged when he would come across a family who professed faith in Christ and he would come back and discover their idols were back up again and because of the tension in the village or the tension with their families, they had practically renounced their faith in Christ and gone back to their idols and that was just a cycle they had to endure and trouble all the time. There's one time Fraser was on the verge of just giving up and going home. And as he made a long journey back to his base in China, he cried to God that God would meet with him. It's one of those critical points in his life, a crisis point in his ministry. Would he continue with this disappointment, this failure as he viewed it, or had God something for him? And as he made his way back, he came to a little village that he'd been in before, and there were three or four families came to him and trusted Christ. He stayed with them for a few days and went on to another village and there were maybe 10 or 12 families and they trusted Christ. And within the space of just a very short time, 120 families had come to know Christ as their savior. He was a man who had given himself to the ministry. Through every hardship, every difficulty, every problem, every discouragement, he was committed to it. He had given himself to it. And that's where we need to be. I ask myself, do I give myself to these things? Is what is said there in verse four, is it true of me? That's a heart-searching question. Does God bless lawfulness? Will he bless ease? Will he bless his work if we think his work means little or nothing to us? If we're happy to drift along, will the Lord come and bless us? I don't think so. Let's pray for a heart that gives itself in Christian service. The fourth thing that I see here is that the church that prospers is one that takes care of its people. Acts chapter 6 and verse 1 there records the division among the women in the church. In those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Some were neglected, caused a murmuring. Then it comes to the years of the apostles. You know, the temptation, the temptation must have been just to brush that aside. Here was the church, it was knowing the power of God and the preaching. Thousands are being converted, there's persecution here, there's disappointments there, there's discouragements with Ananias and Sapphira, and in the midst of all of that, in the midst of all of that, here are people who are murmuring. Murmuring? And the temptation must have been just to think, well, this is such a silly little thing. Let them work it out themselves. That is not what happened. It is not what happened. Look at verse 2. The apostles heard what happened. The 12 called the multitude of the disciples onto them and said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God in the Serb tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom ye may appoint over this business. They took care of the widows. They took care of the needs. They made sure that those who were in difficulty were ministered to. If I had been trying to alliterate this, I'd have talked about the preaching and the praying and the pastoral work. But there was pastoral care there. That's the point, there was care in the church. Care for each other. So when a need arose, it was dealt with. And the seven who were appointed were willing to help. There was a caring, gracious, considerate spirit, Christ-likeness. Christ-likeness there in the church with all of the other activities going on. What in the whole scheme of things seemed such a trivial little thing was approached with tremendous care, tremendous graciousness, and the need was met. And those marks ought to be evident among us more and more too. I see the marks there already. I appreciate the care that there is the one for the other. Let's maintain that. Let's maintain that with all our hearts. The last thing I want you to see in times gone, the church that prospers is one that will strive for unity and harmony. Look at verse three. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude. The saying pleased the whole multitude. You think of that. Think of that for a moment. The saying pleased the whole multitude. There was no one get up and said, I'm not happy with that. Or that's not what I was thinking. It has to be my way. The same pleased the whole multitude. There was a unity among them. In fact, I think you get right over that verse. Everyone's content. Everyone's content. The murmuring is over. The division has been healed. The friction has been faced and fixed, and the whole multitude are pleased with the outcome. Harmony in the church. It has to be significant that then verse 7 kicks in with the words, and the word of God increased, and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem. God was moving here, moving in tremendous power. And I pray he would do the same here. He hasn't changed. We're in a different country, we're in a different age, we're in a different culture, but he is still the God who's able to bless. And I pray tonight that we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Here are men, and this is what they lived for. This is what they lived for. May it be the ever-increasing burden of my heart and your heart that God will do something similar here. that he would visit us in power for his glory. For his own name's sake, that God would come, cause the word to increase, cause the number of the disciples to be multiplied, and turn many from their sin to Christ. May he do it for his own glory. And may he please him to give us some little part that we might rejoice in him. Let's seek the Lord in prayer. I pray the Lord takes these few thoughts and writes them in your heart. May God come and minister to us tonight. Our Heavenly Father, we throw ourselves upon thee tonight. Lord, we're thrilled when we read of Acts 6 and what takes place here. Yet, Lord, we feel so far, far removed from it. We seem so far away from where that church was at that time. Lord, forgive us for our sin. Fill me with thy power. Bless the word that goes forth. And oh God, cause the number of disciples to multiply. May we give ourselves to prayer continually, to the ministry of thy word. Forgive us for our carelessness, our slothfulness, Forgive us, Lord, for just expecting things to happen. Forgive us, Lord, for being taken up with other things. Lord, put thy gracious, gracious, powerful hand upon us and bless this work. We thank thee for it. Lord, I knowest all the past of it. We think tonight, Lord, of the days to come. We think of children. We think of our own children. We think of little infants who've been born into the congregation. Lord, I pray that thou wilt make this work strong. As those little children grow older, that they'll come here and hear Christ preached in all his fullness. And they'll know something of the power of God in their lives. And Lord, for years to come, thy word will increase here. We cannot do this ourselves, Lord, we confess that. But oh God, burden us more and more, that we might not let thee go, except thy bless us. Help us to pray tonight, defeat every attack of hell, Give us victory in prayer, Lord, though our prayers at times are stumbling. We cry, Lord, thou wilt give us help in prayer. I know it's our hearts. Help us tonight to put words to our hearts, words to our thoughts. Help us to pray. Meet with us, oh God, we ask, in Jesus' name, amen.